This was four days before the full moon, so that the tide would be high at Dover about 6 p.m.
The "lofty promontory" rounded is specially noticed by Dio Cassius.
The principle of the balista that of the sling, of the catapult that of the bow. Ammianus Marcellinus (xv. 12) speaks of "the snowy arms" of the Celtic women dealing blows "like the stroke of a catapult."
Valerius Maximus (A.D. 30) has recorded one such act of daring on the part of a soldier named Scaeva, who with four comrades held an isolated rock against all comers till he alone was left, when he plunged into the sea and swam off, with the loss of his shield. In spite of this disgrace Caesar that evening promoted him on the field. The story has a suspicious number of variants, but off Deal there is such a patch of rocks, locally called the Malms; so that it may possibly be true ('Memorabilia,' III. 2, 23).